William Laud

William Laud (7 October 1573-10 January 1645) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645, succeeding George Abbot and preceding William Juxon. He was infamous for his persecution of Puritans and non-Anglican Protestants and for his autocratic leadership style, and he was executed in 1645.

Biography
William Laud was born in Reading, Berkshire, England on 7 October 1573, and he graduated from Oxford in 1594 and was ordained an Anglican deacon and then priest in 1601. He became President of St. John's College in 1611 and Dean of Gloucester in 1616, and he became known for his ceremonial innovations with the communion table. He came to serve as Bishop of St. David's from 1621 to 1626, Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1626 to 1628, and Bishop of London from 1628 to 1633, and he became a key advisor and policy-maker for King Charles I of England. In 1633, the 60-year-old Laud was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, and he embraced Arminianism (rejecting the Calvinist doctrine of predestination in favor of "free will", and thus supporting Roman Catholic doctrines), sought to impose uniformity on the Church of England, and censored literature; he had the author William Prynne's ears "cropped" and his face branded. However, King Charles came to fear the divisions created within the church under Laud, and he also executed Laud's ally Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford. In 1640, Laud was convicted of treason and imprisoned, and he was beheaded on 10 January 1645, with Parliament (then in rebellion against the King) ignoring a royal pardon.